Be Aware of what you share online about your kids

Nowadays parents disclose things about their kids online, leaving a lasting ‘digital footprint’, often containing personal information, which can have repercussions.

Parents often keep a close eye on their kids’ use of social media, but they also need to be mindful of their own posts, researchers warn in a new review.

Negative consequences

These days, it’s almost expected that parents will regularly post pictures of their kids online to give friends and family updates on what they’re doing. But there can be negative – or even scary – consequences, the researchers said.

“This is all so new. Our parents didn’t deal with this,” said Dr Bahareh Keith, an assistant of paediatrics at the University Of Florida College Of Medicine, in Gainesville.

Before social media, parents might embarrass their kids by showing old photo albums. Now, the things parents disclose online – the good and not so good – leave a lasting “digital footprint”, Keith explained.

These digital footprints are becoming the norm: Studies have shown that 92 percent of 2-year-olds in the United States have an online presence, and about one-third make their first appearance on social media within 24 hours of their birth, the researchers said.

Sometimes, that old, embarrassing picture a parent took turns up as a Facebook “memory”. But other times, a child’s personal information – such as struggles with behavioural issues – ends up in the public domain, Keith pointed out.

And that, she said, can have psychological repercussions for kids.

Little research

On the more sinister side, parents’ posts can also inadvertently give information to identity thieves, or even paedophiles.

According to Keith, there has been little research on the issue, probably because it’s so new. Her team did a review of the medical and legal literature on the subject, to come up with some guidelines for parents.

For now, she offered some advice on how to post wisely:

Never share pictures of your child in “any state of undress”.

Be careful about posts that give your child’s precise location.

If you are going online for help with your child’s behavioural issues, keep any information-sharing anonymous.

Beyond that, she advised parents to make sure they understand the privacy policies of all the sites they use.